Through the lens: The Citizen’s Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
A Hindu bride attends a mass marriage ceremony in Karachi, Pakistan, 12 January 2025. Over 100 Hindu couples participated in a mass wedding ceremony organized by the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) on 12 January, aimed at alleviating the financial burden of wedding expenses for economically disadvantaged families. This event, part of an annual tradition established 16 years ago, involves a selection process where applicants are shortlisted based on their income and social status. Picture: EPA-EFE/SHAHZAIB AKBER
The sun rises during the rehearsal of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, USA, 12 January 2025. Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States on 20 January 2025, at the West Front of the US Capitol. Picture: EPA-EFE/SHAWN THEW / POOLA traditional Sri Lankan dancer performs during the Duruthu Perahera annual religious procession at the Kelaniya Buddhist temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 12 January 2025. The annual Duruthu Perahera, or Buddhist religious procession of the Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya, is held every year in January. The historical Kelaniya Rajamaha Vihara holds great reverence among Buddhists, who believe that the Buddha bestowed his blessings upon this temple during his third visit to Sri Lanka. Picture: EPA-EFE/CHAMILA KARUNARATHNEMembers of Panchayati Akhara Bada Udasin take part in a religious procession as they head towards Kumbh Mela festival ahead of the royal bath near the Sangam, the confluence of three of the holiest rivers in Hindu mythology – Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati – in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India, 12 January 2025. Every 12 years, Hindu pilgrims gather for ritual baths at the river’s banks during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival. Picture: EPA-EFE/RAJAT GUPTAThe Mozambican Presidential Military band walk next to an armoured Police vehicle near Parliament in Maputo on January 13, 2025. Mozambique is set to swear in its new parliament on January 13, 2025, following months of deadly protests over an election in October that the opposition said was rigged. Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane has called on his supporters to hold peaceful protests from January 13, 2025 to January 15, 2025 when Daniel Chapo is due to be installed as president. Mondlane claims he won the presidential vote and that the results were rigged in favour of Chapo’s Frelimo party, which has been in power for 50 years. (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE / AFP)People sled on snow at the village of Prokhladnoye, some 30 km from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 12 January 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/IGOR KOVALENKOJean Pierre Strugo of France and Christophe Crespo of France compete with their MD Optimus for MD Rallye Sport during Stage 7 of the 2025 Dakar Rally from Al Duwadimi to Al Duwadimi, Saudi Arabia, 12 January 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/Gerard LaurenssenHindu devotees pray after taking a holy dip in the Bay of Bengal during the second day of Ganga Sagar fair on Sagar Island, India, 13 January 2025. The fair is an annual gathering of Hindu pilgrims during Makar Sankranti to take a dip in the sacred waters of the Ganga River before it merges into the Bay of Bengal. Picture: EPA-EFE/PIYAL ADHIKARYGroups of men and women take a mass holy bath in the Salinadi River during the Madhav Narayan festival in Sankhu, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal, 13 January 2025. The Madhav Narayan festival is a full month-long event devoted to religious fasting, holy bathing and the study of the Swasthani book, which is dedicated to the God Shiva and Goddess Swastania. Picture: EPA-EFE/NARENDRA SHRESTHACostumed participants take part in the ‘Fete des Baigneurs’ (Party of Bathers) swimming event at Lake Geneva in Nyon, Switzerland, 12 January 2025. This event is organized by ‘L’Association des bains des 3 jetees’, where around 180 participants gather to celebrate the arrival of the New Year in water temperatures ranging from 6 to 7 degrees. Picture: EPA-EFE/SALVATORE DI NOLFIA reveller takes part in the traditional Reinado de Nossa Senhora do Rosário e Santa Ifigênia (Reign of Our Lady of the Rosary and St Ifigenia) festival to honour Chico Rei, through the historic streets of Ouro Preto, Brazil, on January 12, 2025. According to tradition, Chico was the king of a tribe in Congo brought by the Portuguese as a slave and who managed to buy his freedom and that of other slaves to become ‘king’ in Ouro Preto and, from then on, part of the Brazilian folklore. More than 30 congado guards from Ouro Preto and the region take part in the event. (Photo by Douglas MAGNO / AFP)Algerian Berbers celebrate the Berber New Year 2975 in Sahel village, south of Tizi-Ouzou, east of Algiers, Algeria, 12 January 2025. Yennayer, the first month of the Berber Year and the Amazigh calendar, has been recognized as a national holiday in Algeria since it was declared by former Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika on 27 December 2017. Picture: EPA-EFE/STR
MORE: 48 hours in pictures, 12 January 2025
For more news your way
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
